Motorized Strandbeest Is Remote Controlled And Awesome

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If you’ve never seen a Strandbeest before, you’re going to want to watch the video after the break. Invented by [Theo Jansen], a Strandbeest is a kinematic work of art. An eight legged structure that walks around under wind power — or if you’re clever, an Arduino and some motors.

For a weekend project, [Remet0n] decided to motorize a toy version of the Strandbeest, and make it remote-controlled. The toy is normally powered by a propeller spun by the wind — making it very easy to replace with motors. You can pick them up for under $10 on eBay.

Using an Arduino Nano, two small 3V motors , a wireless chip (NRF24L01) and a L9110 H-bridge, he was able to create this awesome little remote-controlled device:

As far as remote-controlled Strandbeests go though, we love this Sphero controlled Strandbeest — I mean, who even thinks about coming up with something like that? Maybe I should make one for my Sphero…

20 thoughts on “Motorized Strandbeest Is Remote Controlled And Awesome”

  2. the video is broken try reuploading it or if there is something copyrighted that is being flagged then mark the video as private and give us the login and password or post it to thepiratebay

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    1. I thought it would be interesting to put something like a windmill on a StrandBeest and at some reduction ration the torque of the windmill should be able to drive the StrandBeest *into* the wind.

      Or even arrange two windmills and a differential that is controlled by a wind vane so the side of the StrandBeest that is further from the wind source goes faster and aligns the StranBeest into the wind.

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      1. Yea I thought of something like that too, kind of a “food seeking” strandbeest, if it could be made to work you could put it some place like the bonneville salt flats and the damned thing would run forever.

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        1. Both of you should really read up on the strandbeest things a bit, this is pretty much what they do (wind powered) the guy even made basic sensors and logic gates with air to stop his creations from walking into the sea, and ‘stomachs’ to store compressed air to use when theres no wind (so bscly, “storing food” for later)

          Sadly i couldn’t really find a video covering all those aspects, so just google a bit for each.

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  5. Our hackerspace had a 3cm plywood lipo-powered version the size of your car, with a cordless drill-size brushless motor controlled with a standard Turnigy RC tarnsmitter. I’m not sure where it went these days.

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  7. I don’t think it’s a sacrilege to motorize a strandbeest at all. The art of the strandbeest, imho, is twofold: One, the amazing mechanical arrangement and two, the fact that mr. Jansen’s beests are wind-powered.
    This build focuses on the first part, and is quite well executed. I like it.
    Ben

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  8. Human A designs a ‘mostly’ straight line linkage along with hundreds of other linkages. Publishes papers.
    Human B realizes this linkage could be used for a walking mechanism and develops it further. Publishes papers.
    Human C eliminates the frame this linkages is mounted to. Instead he creates a cluster of these linkages tied together. Publishes results.
    Human D connects a turbine to power Human C’s creation and gains reputation as genius inventor artist.
    Human E makes smaller toy version of Human D’s creation. Gets all the moneys.
    Human F significantly improves the novelty of Human D’s old toy. Publishes online.

    Thank you Humans. You’re all awesome.

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